How to Transcribe a Meeting for Free, and What Free Gets You
The free options for turning a recorded meeting into text, what each one limits, and when the free route is enough.
The Scriptorium team ·
There are three free routes: the transcript your meeting software already makes, a free transcriber that works on the recording, or typing it up yourself. Which works depends on the length of the meeting and how much you need it to be right.
Route one: the meeting software
Zoom, Teams and Google Meet each offer transcripts on some plans. If yours does, check it first; it costs no extra step. If yours does not, or it is a paid-plan feature, move on.
Route two: transcribe the recording
- Download the recording from your meeting software once the call ends.
- Upload it to meeting to text and set the language.
- Read the transcript, rename the speaker labels to real names, and correct names and figures.
- Export as text or Markdown and share it with the attendees.
Without an account you can transcribe one file up to 15 minutes and 25 MB, a few times a day. A longer meeting needs a free account or a recording cut into parts. This site does not join your call: it works on the file afterwards.
Route three: do it yourself
Typing a recording by hand is free and slow, and it is the right choice for a five-minute clip where every word matters. For an hour-long meeting, correcting a draft is faster.
The honest limits of free
- Length and size limits per file, and a daily limit on tries.
- A draft is not a verbatim record. Check names, figures and decisions.
- Tell people the meeting is being recorded. Consent rules vary by place.